This invention relates generally to storage and dispenser units for goods contained in small boxes, and more particularly to boxes which lend themselves to efficient stacking in such units and which, when removed therefrom, are capable of functioning as play modules.
In the merchandising of candy and other products contained in small boxes, it is desirable that the product be attractively displayed in order to draw customers. The display on the counter of a single box is not feasible, for then the box is obscured by many other competing products. Moreover, when the product is advertised by a counter display card, but the supply of boxes is at another location, then should a customer seek to make a purchase, a sales person must leave the counter to find the supply and take a box therefrom, thereby complicating the transaction.
In order to provide dispensers which act both to store and display small containers of merchandise, it is known to provide units for this purpose which may be suspended from a wall or placed on the counter to attract customers and facilitate purchases. Thus in one widely-used dispenser for boxes containing candy mints, the unit is composed of a vertical array of inclined cells, each accommodating a single box.
In a copending patent application Ser. No. 532,858, filed Dec. 16, 1974 by Joseph P. Palamara, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,174, May 18, 1976, there is disclosed a dispenser unit constituted by a frame having a pair of side walls from which ledges project that divide the frame into distinct compartments for accommodating the boxes to be stored, each compartment having a discharge opening permitting lateral withdrawal of boxes therefrom, one at a time. The advantage of a unit of the type disclosed in this copending application is that it is adapted to store a large number of relatively fragile boxes and to protect them against mishandling and damage.
The boxes presently used in existing types of dispensers, as well as those disclosed in the copending application, are fabricated of transparent plastic material and are rectangular in form, with straight ends and straight sides. Each box includes a hinged end hatch which, when opened, permits removal of the candy pieces. When these boxes are empty, they are discarded, for they have no further use. Since literally millions of such boxes are sold every year, the discarded boxes represent sheer waste. From the ecological standpoint, the boxes constitute still another form of environmenal pollution.
Briefly stated, these objects are attained in a generally rectangular box whose upper side wall has a double-humped wave formation and whose lower side wall has a complementary single-humped formation, such that when the boxes are stacked one above the other in a dispenser unit, the boxes intermesh neatly with each other to define a seemingly continuous slab, whereas when the boxes are withdrawn from the unit and emptied, they are usable as play modules, in that a pair of boxes placed in end-to-end relation may be intercoupled by a third box seated on and straddling the adjacent humps of the pair below to form play edifices. Because the boxes have an abstract animal-like configuration, they may be decorated to assume the appearance of various four-legged animals, thereby enhancing their play value.